The Ghosts of Africa by William Stevenson

Author:William Stevenson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781629149639
Publisher: Skyhorse
Published: 2015-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Part Five

Too Much Chocolate

28

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From Myles Hagen’s The Bird Watching Notes of an English Country Gentleman, Nairobi, June 1915:

The little yellow-throated bee eater has returned (see my sketch). . . . My long-range plan is to have Lanni taken back to Berlin by Prince Turvchenko. He came here to negotiate secretly with British East Africa settlers because the Kaiser’s still convinced that Africa can be exempted from the general war. Stupid bloody idiot! Lanni has first to finish a small task I gave her. Even if she fails, I’ll use her in Berlin directly she’s back from Kilimanjaro and Tom von Prinz. Lanni must be the most superbly qualified recruit an intelligence director ever set eyes on. They loved her in London (fools!) for her elegant black aristocracy. In Berlin they remember her Prussian father and her royal Zanzibar connections. The Kaiser was always fascinated by her grandmother’s domination of one-tenth of all Africa. It reminded him of his own English grandmother’s immense dominions. My hopes now rest upon Lanni’s work in Germany, and I know precisely how to get her there. . . . Secret power, such as I have accumulated despite setbacks, can be wielded without outside interference behind the shield SECURITY OF THE STATE! If I had daily to account to superiors, I could not maneuver the German Kommandeur, whose psychology I have gauged. He is priestlike in his dedication to the religion of war. My latest encounter with him was a renewal of vows. We need each other. It is amusing to read these tales of a superhuman female Hun! The last thing Paul wants around him is a woman. She would only come between him and me, his necessary Lucifer. He is now back in Laager-120 W, about which my agents have more to report. Cloud-Cuckoo Land they call it. Fools’ Paradise! I want him to stay there while his followers get sick on too much chocolate, as in the German legend.

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